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Monday, January 13, 2014

I
have loved to do cardio-based workouts since I was a little kid. As a
child I used to hop on my Grandma’s stationary bike & would mimic my Mom
doing her Kathy Smith aerobic videos. In high school I ran around my
neighborhood, swam, & did other cardio. Sometimes I did those things
AFTER tennis or swim practice. If I could step in a time machine &
tell young me a few health & fitness related things, this is what they
would be:1. Do
body-weight exercises to build strength. Push-ups, squats, & lunges…you
know, all the stuff you hate doing in PE. Mrs. Ruderman is right: that’s
what will get you into bikini shape. Your hour long session on Mom’s
Nordic Track followed by a jog in the park won’t build muscle. You need a mix
of exercises, not just cardio.

2.
Mrs Ruderman [high school gym teacher] is right. All the exercises you do
in PE are what adults pay someone to tell them to do when they are older.

3.
Muscle is your friend, & it won’t make you look like a boy.

4.
Balance all meals and snacks so they include a healthy ratio of fat,
carbohydrate, & protein. A packet of saltines & an apple are
hardly the right thing to eat before a swim meet. A chimichanga and
churro from the school lunch cart are terrible options, too (how the hell were you so skinny?).

5.
Low-fat high-carbohydrate meals are NOT what’s best for you. Remember
what I just said about balancing meals? Eating healthy fats in moderation is GOOD
for you. Stop avoiding butter and oil. Put a little cheese on the
whole-wheat broccoli pizza that you made for your family. Tell your
family you love them for eating the pizza, too. The only reason they
tried that scary creation was because they love you.

6.
Stop obsessing over the number on the scale. Instead, focus on how you
feel & how your body looks. Do you feel strong & energetic?
How is your skin?

7.
Don’t be intimidated by weight machines at the gym. Ask for help if you
aren’t sure how a machine works. The people who work at the gym are PAID
to help you.

8. Stop thinking that
everyone is critiquing your every move. 99.9% of the people who you are
worried about are not paying attention to you. They are thinking about other
things, or worrying that everyone is critiquing them. Listen to “Wasting
Time” by Jack Johnson. Wait, it hasn’t
been written yet. Memorize these lyrics:

But everybody thinks that everybody knows
About everybody else but nobody knows
Anything about themselves
Because they’re all worried about everybody else(Jack Johnson – Wasting
Time Lyrics | MetroLyrics)

9. Stop drinking water from
plastic bottles you left in the car on hot days.

11. In a few years you will
want to make “healthy” chocolate chip cookies to give as Christmas treats.
Just make real cookies. Don’t poison your friends & family with
sucralose. Don’t give them applesauce cookies. When people want a
chocolate chip cookie, they don’t want a healthy fake. On that note, stop
eating things with fake sugar.

I could go on, but who has
hours and hours to kill? Not me, and probably not you, either. What
have you learned that you wish you could tell your younger self?

Here’s a quick body-weight
routine that my high school gym teacher would approve of:

Disclaimer Regarding B+ Food Value Ratings

At the end of many of my recipes is a table summarizing the ingredient ratings based on Eat Right For Your Type & my SWAMI personal diet report. The SWAMI report is unique to me. The table is not endorsed by anyone associated with the author. It is simply a tool I include to help people quickly access a recipe's benefit to them if they are following that way of eating. I only include Rh+ & Secretors for simplicity. I'm sorry to those Rh- & Non-Secretors who drop by! There may be errors in my rating table. If so, please tell me. If you are following ER4YT, I recommend that you double check food values for yourself at the author's website.

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I am not affiliated with Bodyrock.tv ot The Daily HIIT in anyway other than that I do the workouts and blog for them. I am not a personal trainer. I am not liable or responsible if you injure yourself doing any workout anywhere (including workouts from Bodyrock.tv, workouts linked on my site, or the workouts I design & post on my site). Consult your doctor before beginning a new exercise regimen.